Junior/senior North Dufferin Baseball League playoffs underway

Written By Brian Lockhart

The North Dufferin Baseball League playoffs are underway with the Senior division starting round one this week, and the Juniors heading into the championship final

Senior Division

The North Dufferin Baseball League Senior division playoffs are now underway with eight teams battling it out for the 2024 championship and the prize of being recorded as this year's winners of the Strother Cup.

A total of eleven teams played in the League this year.

Clarksburg, Midland, and Mansfield failed to qualify for a playoff berth.

The Senior playoffs got started on Aug. 6.

The first-place Bolton Brewers will be up against the eighth-place Orillia Majors in their series.

Bolton finished in the top spot in the regular season standings with a 17-5-2 record.

Orillia managed to secure the eighth playoff berth, finishing seven points ahead of the ninth-place team. The Owen Sound Baysox are up against the Barrie Angels. Owen Sound finished the season in second place. Barrie landed in seventh place for the season.

The third-place New Lowell Knights will be meeting the Lisle Astros for their first-round match-up.

The Knights have won the Strother Cup five times over the past 10 years.

Lisle finished in sixth place this year with a 13-8-3 record.

The Creemore Padres will face the Ivy Rangers in their series.

Both the Padres and the Rangers finished the regular season with 14 wins making this a very competitive series to watch.

Round one competition will be a best-of-five series, or first to six points. A win is awarded with two points, while a tie awards one point to each team.

The playoffs got started with the first games this week. All series will have to be completed by Aug. 16.

The second round of competition will start on Aug. 17 and is a best-of-five series.

The championship series is scheduled to start on Sept. 7, between the two remaining teams.

In the final series, teams will play a best-of-seven championship series. 

Junior Division

In the NDBL Junior division, the championships final series will have the first-place Creemore Padres up against the fourth-place Innisfil Cardinals.

The Cardinals were the dark horse team this season. They eliminated the second-place Orillia Royals in a series that went four games and ended on July 31, with a 6-2 Innisfil win.

The Orillia team were the defending 2023 Junior Division champions.

The final series got underway in Creemore on Monday, Aug. 5 and ended in a 12-9 decision for the Padres who finished first overall in the seven-team junior loop.

The championship series will pause until Aug. 14 as provincial championship tournaments are held this weekend.

The final championship will be a best-of-five series, so there will be no room for mistakes on the field from either team.